With one weekend left before Tuesday's election, the three candidates for Florida's open 7th Congressional District seat, which includes Winter Springs and the rest of Seminole County, are offering voters sharply different answers on the cost of living, according to interviews and voter-guide answers published by Oviedo Community News.
Republican Ryan Elijah, a former Fox 35 anchor who beat U.S. Rep. Cory Mills in the August primary, faces Democrat Bale Dalton, a veteran and former NASA chief of staff, and Libertarian Chris Dennison, an Air Force veteran. The Cook Political Report has moved the race from Solid Republican to Likely Republican, the outlet noted.
Oviedo Community News said it invited all three to sit for video interviews. Dalton and Dennison did; Elijah had not as of Thursday, and the outlet quoted him from earlier conversations.
On prices
Elijah has called affordability his top issue and ties it to energy. "No. 1, we have to be energy dominant. And I think we're moving that way," he told the outlet on the night of his primary win, adding that tax cuts, lower interest rates and reduced government spending would also help. "Both parties have to do better," he said.
Dalton also leads with affordability but points to federal trade and foreign policy. He said reversing the administration's tariffs, which he called illegal, would take pressure off small businesses and prices, and he called for ending the war in Iran, which he said costs an unbudgeted $1 billion a day.
On Amendment 3
The two major-party candidates agree on the state ballot measure that would raise the homestead property tax exemption. Both say they will vote no.
Dalton wrote in his voter-guide answers that while he supports tax relief for working families, the proposal would put at risk money for public safety, roads and storm preparation.
